Medicine cabinet



June 26, 1956 s o 2,752,217

MEDICINE CABINET Filed Dec. 21, 1953 SIDNEY SIMON, INVEN TOR.

HUEBNER, BE'EHL ER, WORREL & HERZ/G, By ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent 9 MEDICINE CABINET Sidney Simon, Los Angeles, Calif. Application December 21, 1953, Serial No. 399,322

2 Claims. (Cl. 312-242) This invention relates to a cabinet structure of the type designed to be mounted in a wall between two studs or other vertical members.

To facilitate the disclosure of the construction and mode of installation of the cabinet, my invention will be described as embodied in a medicine cabinet, although the principles thereof can be applied with equal cogency to other types of cabinets.

Among the problems encountered in the installation of conventional medicine cabinets is the fact that the fasteners for securing said cabinets to the studs must be inserted through the side Walls of the cabinets by tools held, in awkward positions, which results in time-consuming and inaccurate, installations.

It is, therefore, an object of my invention to provide a cabinet for installation between two supporting members which includes spaced side walls juxtaposable to said supporting members and provided with fastener receiving recesses therein, said recesses being oriented so that the bottom walls thereof face toward the front of the cabinet to facilitate the installation ofthe fasteners therein. Thus, it is possible to install the fasteners in the recesses and drive them into the supporting members from the front of the cabinet by tools held at a convenient angle, thus materially reducing the installation time and improving the accuracy of installation.

Another object of my invention is the provision of a cabinet of the aforementioned character which is fabricated from sheet metal and in which the recesses are formed in the side walls thereof by pressing or stamping them therein, the bottom walls thereof being angularly oriented toward the front of said cabinet to permit fasteners to be readily installed therethrough.

An additional object of my invention is the provision, in a cabinet of the aforementioned character, of a plurality of protuberances in the sidewalls thereof, said protuberances engaging the supporting members and spacing said side walls from engagement with said members. In this manner, circulation of air about the periphery of the cabinet is assured to prevent condensation on the walls thereof.

A further object of my invention is the provision, in a cabinet of the aforementioned character, of protuberances having bottom edges angularly cngageable with the supporting members to prevent dislodgement of said cabinet from said members.

Another object of my invention is the provision of a cabinet of the aforementioned character in which the protuberances thereof define the recesses in said side walls for the reception of the mounting fasteners.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be apparent from the following specification and the accompanying drawing which is for the purpose of illustration only, and in which:

Fig. l is a perspective view of a medicine cabinet incorporating the principles of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view showing the manner in which the protuberances in a side wall of the cabi- 2,752,217 Patented June 26, 1956 2 netspace said side wall from engagement with a stud but,- nevertheless, serve to maintain said side wall in operative engagement therewith;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged, fragmentary viewshowing one of the angularly oriented recesses in a side wall of the medicine cabinet; and

Fig. 4 is an enlarged, fragmentary view of a protuberance on one of the side walls of the cabinet of my invention.

Referring to the drawing, and particularly to Fig 1 thereof, I show a medicine cabinet 10 constructed in accordance with my invention, said cabinet being fabricated from sheet metal and including side walls 12 and 13, top and bottom walls 14 and 15, respectively, and a peripheral flange 16 secured to the edges of said walls. A back Wall 17 is secured to or formed integrally with the other walls of the cabinet 10.

Pivotally suspended on a piano hinge 18 on the flange 16 at one side of the cabinet 10 is a closure or door 20, said door having spring catch means 21 provided thereupon operatively engageable with a detent 22 on the side wall 12 when the door 20 is closed.

A plurality of pairs of instruck supporting lugs 26 are punched in the side walls 13 and 14 which serve to support a plurality of vertically spaced shelves 27 in operative relation with said side walls.

The medicine cabinet in is designed for installation in a cavity 28 in a partition 29, the side walls thereof being juxtaposed to supporting members or studs 30, as is the side wall 12 in-Fig. 2 of the drawing, while the back wall 17 of the cabinet is juxtaposed to the interior ofthe wall 33 of the partition. The flange 16 is disposed in overlying relation with the wall 34 of the partition and thus conceals the gap between the cabinet 10 and the stud 30. Although only one stud Si) is shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing, it should be understood that another stud 30 is juxtaposed to the side wall 13 of the cabinet.

A plurality of fastener receiving recesses 36 is provided in the side walls 12 and 13, said recesses being vertically spaced, as best shown in Fig. l of the drawing, to permitthe securement of the cabinet 10 to the studs 30 at the top and bottom portions of the side walls 12 and 13.

The recesses 36 are, as best shown in Fig. 3, substantially circular in plan and are provided with fiat bottom walls 37 angularly oriented in a direction toward the front of the cabinet. The bottom walls 37 have centrally located, angularly oriented openings 39 therein for receiving the shanks 40 of fasteners 41, while the heads of said fasteners are urgable into abutting relation with said bottom walls, as best shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing. The recesses 36 are countersunk so that all of the walls thereof are entirely outside the planes of the inside surfaces of the side walls 12 and 13, and so that the heads of fasteners 41 also are entirely outside the planes of these surfaces, as shown in Fig. 2.

Therefore, when the cabinet it) is being installed, the fasteners 41 may be inserted through the angularly oriented openings 39 in the angularly oriented bottom walls 37. Since the side walls 12 and 13 are spaced from the studs 30, a portion of the shank of a fastener can pass through the opening 37 to locate the fastener with respect to the stud 30 in which it is to be driven.

Moreover, as best shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing, the fasteners 41 have their heads angularly oriented toward the front of the cabinet by reason of the angular orientation of the openings 39 therein. Therefore, when the fasteners 41 are driven through the openings 39 into an associated stud 30, a tool, such as the screwdriver 45, can be utilized which may be held in a position, such as that shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing, in which it can be readily grasped and rotated from the front of the cabinet 10 to drive the fasteners 41 through the openings 39.

The facility of installation achievable by the use of my invention is in contrast to the installation problem in conventional cabinets wherein the mounting holes are simply punched through the side walls and the installation must be made by holding the tool with its longitudinal axis parallel to the back wall. The limited space in the interior of the cabinet hinders free use of the tool, thus prolonging the time necessary for installation of the cabinet. Moreover, by the use of my invention, it is possible to use reciprocating screwdrivers, of the Yankee type, because the fasteners can be driven from the front of the cabinet.

It should be noted that the recesses 36 are actually defined by protuberances 59, best shown in Fig. 2, which extend beyond the plane of the side walls 12 and 13 and which are angularly oriented toward said side walls. Therefore, the protuberances 50, in addition to defining the recesses as, also serve as spacer means for spacing the side walls 12 and 13 of the cabinet out of engagement with the adjacent studs 30. This creates an air gap which prevents the formation of condensate on the walls of the cabinet due to moist bathroom air.

Furthermore, the fact that the protuberances 59 engage the studs 30 at spaced points permits the cabinet 10 to be readily installed between studs which are slightly warped or otherwise deformed since there is no necessity for accurate engagement of the side walls 12 and 13 and the studs 30.

Each of the protuberances St has an arcuate edge 51, as best shown in Fig. 4 of the drawing, said edge being directed toward the front of the cabinet it; and engaging the adjacent stud 39. Therefore, when the cabinet 10 is installed in the partition 29, the edges 51 of the protuberances 50 engage the adjacent surfaces of the studs 30 and serve to resist dislodgernent of the cabinet 10 once it has been installed since the edges 51 act as wedges or dogs to resist outward movement of the cabinet 10. This is an important feature of my invention since the load on the fasteners 41 is materially reduced and the tendency of the fasteners 4-1 to pull out of the studs 30 overcome.

I thus provide by my invention a cabinet which is characterized by case of installation, which can be installed in an irregular opening and which resists dislodgement from said opening once it is installed.

When the fastening holes are embossed at an angle, the edge 51 is preferably sharp or even broken through, to some extent at 51, so that such edges will grip and hold in the manner of a hook, and will therefore bite into the corresponding inner edges of the studs. Such hook-like action will also have a tendency to draw or retain the cabinet in the wall opening, or against the wall, and prevent its removal even without nails or screws. Conventional methods require pushing and holding the cabinet up against the wall and at the same time driving the fastening screws or nails into the studs.

The fastening holes being embossed at said angle also compensate if the distance between the side of the cabinet and the stud is larger than necessary and will not allow the sides of the cabinet to be spread during installation. Consequently, the shelves will not drop out, as frequently occurs in cabinets of conventional construction where the side walls bow out and where the desired shimrning effect of the outwardly embossed fastening holes is not attained. The outwardly embossed fastening holes can also be driven into the side studs to compensate for studs installed too close from inner edge to inner edge.

Although I'have herein shown and described my invention in what I have conceived to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is recognized that departures may be made therefrom within the scope of my invention, which is not to be limited to the details disclosed herein but is to be accorded the full scope of the claims so as to embrace any and all equivalent structures and devices. a

I claim as my invention:

1. A cabinet or the like enclosure for installation between a pair of spaced opposed portions of a building wall, said cabinet including flexible side walls and a back wall secured to said side walls, said side wall being disposed in spaced relation to one another and being adapted to be inserted between said opposed wall portions, said side walls having integral laterally outwardly projecting protuberances thereon countersunk internally of said cabinet with respect to the planes of the respective inside surfaces of said side walls, each of said protuberances having two intersecting slanted surfaces, one directed toward the back of the cabinet and the other toward the front of the cabinet, said one slanted surface being adapted to cam said protuberance and its corresponding side wall past and over the edge of a corresponding opposed wall portion, and the other of said surfaces making a sharp angle with said one surface at their intersection, said intersection defining an edge adapted to engage against and press into such wall portion under the influence of its said flexible side wall and thereby resist any attempt to remove said cabinet forwardly out of position between the opposed wall portions.

2. A cabinet as defined in claim 1 wherein a surface of each of said protuberances is provided with an opening for a fastening element and wherein said protuberances are countersunk internally of said cabinet to a depth to completely receive the head of a fastening element.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,605,168 Burk et al NOV. 2, 1926 1,869,807 Hammer Aug. 2, 1932 2,677,415 Brink May 4, 1954 

